


That Fake Snake Belt

by CarburetorCastiel



Series: That Fake Snake Belt [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brock Sucks Like Usual, Cowboy Bucky Barnes, Cowboy Steve Rogers, Enemies to Lovers, Ficlet, Fluff and Smut, Inspired by Art, M/M, Mild Angst, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Smut, No animals are harmed dont worry, One Shot, Slice of Life, Stucky - Freeform, TW: Mentions of House Fire, Versatile Bucky Barnes, Versatile Steve Rogers, alternate universe - cowboys, day in the life, horses and sheep and stuff, mentions of past unhealthy relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-02 17:10:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16791187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarburetorCastiel/pseuds/CarburetorCastiel
Summary: Sheep farmers Steve and Bucky never would have thought that they could be in the same room together without fighting let alone decide to merge their two farms together and move in. But loneliness and, eventually, love, fueled them both.(Inspired by Cowboy Bucky and Steve Art by Lisa Mott)





	That Fake Snake Belt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stucky1980](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stucky1980/gifts).



> This was inspired by and collaborated with Lisa Mott. Here is a link to her [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/lisamott09/) and [Tumblr](https://lisamott9.tumblr.com/) and [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stucky1980).

Cowboy Bucky Art by Lisa Mott

\---

The fierce competition between them was all they had known for a long time. After all, it wasn’t easy to be a sheep farmer and it wasn’t easy to be friends with other sheep farmers either. It was more or less an accident that their properties happen to fall right next to each other. Originally, there was another farm between them – a cow herder called Phil. But he had passed, taking with him the amicability he gave the three of them and, also, willing them both half his land.

So, now, they were right next to each other. And they had to see each other on the borders of their farms, a little too close to the other’s property line. They could manage to be civil with Phil there because he was naturally good at calming people down and he wanted them to all to live in relative piece together. Now, there was nothing stopping Steve from chucking his compost over the fence into Barnes’ farm. And there was nothing stopping Bucky from letting his horses shit in Rogers’ farm.

It kept up like that for a long time. It wasn’t more than a year after Phil’s death that they finally started to cool down – like they just had to get it all out of their system or something. But, eventually, they were at a simmering temperature, less boiling, more hissing. They could go about their business as usual and keep to themselves. They could even give a cursory, ‘Mornin’, if they happen to be out at the same time.

Phil had had a family. They moved away after his passing and now it really was just Steve and Bucky on this side of the big hill. They both lived alone – in very large farmhouses. Maybe that sheer loneliness was what really drew them together finally. But they would probably always tell the same story of what they knew to be what caused it.

See, Bucky hadn’t always been good at picking people to be with. He had dated several losers in his day – rude, abusive, controlling, nit-picking, demanding men and women who just wanted to lord over him. That was too often the case. But one, in particular, seemed to rise above the rest as the biggest shit among shits. That was Brock.

They dated for a really long time before Bucky finally realized he was just like the rest. Brock had always been good at hiding it. He was clever and slimy and charismatic and smarter than Bucky at every turn. Bucky couldn’t see he was just as bad for him because, on the outside, he seemed perfectly normal. But he didn’t know the inside that well.

Bucky finally got the message when they went riding horses and came across Steve with his sheep. They had a short interaction that didn’t raise any flags for him at all. Until the next day, however, when Steve made a comment about how ‘that guy was such a rude dick’ and Bucky, naturally, defended him. Then he started to think about it. All the times he wouldn’t let Bucky go places he wanted to, or order his own food, or ever, ever be on top for once. It was a lot more than that too but it all hit him at once and sort of overwhelmed him.

So, Bucky, true to his pattern this far, dumped the bastard and told him what for and boxed up all Brock’s stuff and left it out on his porch so he could come get it. But, Brock didn’t just come get his box. He also started a fire.

It was started in the corner of his barn near where all the feed and hay was – perfect kindling. Brock left swiftly and Bucky was none the wiser. It was spreading fast too. Steve saw it first. His house was up nearer to the barn and he saw the flame licking the side of the deep red paint.

He put his all into a sprint towards Bucky’s house. Knocking once he got there, he screamed at Bucky that the barn was on fire before heading towards it himself to try to put it out. Bucky managed to call the fire department and get a large hose. There wasn’t much they could do, though.

All they could do was let all the sheep and horses out so they could run around the fenced property away from the flames. And the two of them fell flat on the ground and watched as the whole barn came burning to the ground in a big heap of wood and rubble. It was devasting to Bucky. It was devasting to Steve, too. It wasn’t like he enjoyed watching barns burn. This was a tragedy for them both.

It took them a long time to get the barn rebuilt. Steve let Bucky house all his animals in his barn – which was much bigger anyway. Bucky bought all the supplies they needed and they started the very next day. They spent all their free time working on the new barn and chatting. At first, it was all just surface talk. They weren’t really that acquainted yet, after all. But, eventually, the chatter turned to real conversations which turned to deep secrets and confessions and guilts and intimate details of each other’s lives.

But the barn had to be finished eventually. And with it, their conversations should have stopped, but Bucky found himself in Steve’s kitchen having dinner with him. He also found himself paying attention to the way Steve’s body moved and the way he held himself and how he dressed. They hadn’t really had time for this before. But now, he had the time in the world to just sit back and assess him head to toe.

Like most farmers of their ilk, Steve dressed similarly when he was outside and inside. His working clothes were some sturdy jeans or cords with a flannel or cream-colored button down, jacket overtop, boots that came to his mid-calf, and a hat to complete the look. And his change of clothes inside was basically the same – jeans that were clean, pressed flannel, denim or sherpa jacket, inside slipper shoes or thick wool socks. The only main difference was the belt. Steve had several belts for outside work – black, brown, grey, even blue. They weren’t anything special. Just plain and hardy. But his inside belt was always the same. And it was bizarre too.

The first time Steve caught Bucky looking at it, he made sure to tell him it wasn’t real snakeskin. Steve wasn’t the type to wear anything that came from an animal, even if the animal didn’t have to die. It wasn’t his style and it wasn’t what made him comfortable. But somehow the fact that it wasn’t just a snake belt, but it was even a fake snake belt, made it all the more intriguing.

Why did he have it? When did he get it? Why did he always wear it inside? Was it too fragile to go outside? Or was he just trying to protect it and make it last? Bucky always seemed to have more and more questions about it. But Steve had only ever told him one thing. “Don’t worry, it’s not real snakeskin.”

Bucky did eventually learn that the belt did leave the house. If Steve was headed out somewhere that wasn’t work-related, he wore it. He wore it to restaurants, to bars, even to a nice little cattle show they went to. Otherwise, though, it was always on inside his house or Bucky’s house.

The belt even started to be a symbol to Bucky. Depending on where it was, it might mean that Steve wanted sex.

Neither of them really remembered how the first time played out. They just remember rolling around together on the floor in Bucky’s living room. The cat ran and hid as they started to strip each other of all the clothes between them. But, after the first time, the rest just seemed to happen too.

Neither of them locked their homes. They didn’t live near anyone else at all and, nowadays, more often than not, they were together at one or the other’s place anyway. It was just easier not to put that added barrier of keys to this. Bucky didn’t mind at all. Because so many times he had come in from working or gotten back from the store only to find Steve’s clothes strewn about like a trail leading Bucky to bed. At the end of the road, there was always that old fake snake belt hanging up somewhere carefully - his door, the hook in his kitchen, draped over a chair. And that always meant that Steve was naked and waiting on his bed for him.

It was always amazing with Steve too. Steve was dominate but not demanding. They traded off who was top and bottom and they always made sure they were both on board. Even when Bucky had his face in the mattress and his ass in the air, getting slapped over and over by Steve’s big open palm, it was always because he wanted that exact thing in that exact moment.

And Steve understood that it could be difficult for Bucky to be dominant in exchange. He was so used to being trampled over that it wasn’t natural for him to take charge. So, even if Bucky was inside Steve, Steve often guided him or asked him for things that Bucky might not have thought of. Like when Steve asked Bucky to stick his fingers in his mouth and Bucky blushed because he had that done to him but he had never done it to someone else. But, man, did he love seeing Steve like that.

They carried on like this for a long time. It was probably a few years of talking and fucking and going out for drinks and riding horses together and simply being in each other’s presence all the time. Bucky remembered that it was a lazy Saturday morning that Steve asked if he wanted to merge their farms. Bucky laughed at first because he thought he was kidding.

“I’m not kidding.” Steve folded his arms and stared at Bucky. “We have plenty of livestock between us, we both make good revenue, we already spend all this time together. It just makes sense to me.”

Bucky blinked, unsure whether he was asking him to just ‘merge farms’ or to move in with him or what. “What do you mean? Combine our businesses? Take down the fence in the middle? Is that what you’re saying?”

Steve nodded, that was exactly it. “Yes, combine business, take down the fence, move into one house. All that.” He said it so simply, like he wasn’t trying to make too big of a deal that he wanted to live with Bucky.

But Bucky caught it and made Steve stop a moment. “Wait, hold on. You’re asking me to move in with you.” It wasn’t a question. “You want us to merge farms and move in together.” Again, not a question. He heard what Steve had said.

“Yes,” Steve said, again, so simply. “Is it okay that I want that?” He would back off if Bucky seemed to take poorly to the idea. So far, Bucky wasn’t saying much at all.

Bucky gave himself a moment to think. But he kind of thought he wanted that too. He hadn’t lived with someone in a long time and he really, really liked Steve. And, the business aspect really did just make sense. “Yes! Okay. Yes, I’ll move in with you.”

Steve excused himself from the kitchen table and started to pull off his jacket and his shirt, heading into his bedroom. He disappeared behind the door and then Bucky saw that the fake snake belt being hung up on the hook on the outside of the door – pants and underwear were soon on the ground as well. Bucky chuckled and shot up from the table too, ready to strip down and fuck Steve’s ass nice and deep in celebration. “Coming, Darling,” he said and trotted into the bedroom.

Once they moved in together, Bucky saw even more of Steve. They decided to move into Steve’s house since it was bigger and they were keeping Bucky’s up as a guest home – as if they had any guests ever. But it worked out nicely for them this way. All their animals were together and they kept all the sheep in one barn and all the horses in the other. It was, admittedly, the best decision they could have made. And Bucky wondered if they should have at least merged businesses once Phil died anyway. Back then, though, they still hated each other.

It also took them a while after moving in together to finally say ‘I love you’. Naturally, it was Bucky who wanted to say it first. He had always been the first, especially in bad relationships that he didn’t see were bad yet. But with Steve, he knew it was good. He knew this was healthy and lovely. But as much as he wanted to, he refused to say it first.

Steve, on the other hand, realized it early on but didn’t want to say anything for a while. He really wanted to make sure that Bucky loved him too. He wanted to make sure that they were going where he thought they were. They already lived together, they had discussed the possibility of if they both wanted kids – which, they did. It was all pretty much stacking up where they wanted it to. And that’s how they were the night Steve decided he was actually going to say it.

He made a good dinner for them both - candles on the table, bottle of wine, and a chocolate dessert. He pampered Bucky all evening with kisses and touches and food and attention. He even conceded and watched a dumb movie Bucky loved but Steve really thought was cheesy. He wanted to watch it for him, though.

It wasn’t until Bucky pulled off his snake belt and laid it on the couch and then popped the buttons on his pants that Steve knew how he was going to do this. “Hey, Babe,” he whispered. “I want to go to the bedroom. Not on the couch tonight.”

Bucky nodded and got up to lead Steve with him. “Anything you want, Steve,” he said warmly, hands roaming back to tug his pants off again.

Once they were both naked on the bed, Steve started to trail heavy, warm kisses down Bucky’s body. He made it to his inner thighs and grabbed the lube so he could start to open Bucky up slowly and tenderly and lovingly.

Tonight was about making love. And that was what he did. He laid over Bucky gently and pressed his cock inside of him, ever so careful despite knowing that Bucky could take a lot. “You’re so beautiful,” he said in the lightest of whispers as he picked a slow, even tempo to rock inside of him.

“Thank you. You’re sexy as hell,” Bucky agreed, arms around Steve’s neck and eyes locked to his. “You make everything so much better, Steve. You make my world better.”

Steve nodded and gave Bucky a few passionate yet soft kisses. “You are my world,” he whispered once again. “I love you, Bucky.”

And there it was. He loved Bucky. Steve couldn’t keep it in any longer. He loved him. Their rocky beginnings meant nothing now. It had been several wonderful years of being together, being friends, being lovers, being each other’s family. This was what they both wanted. And maybe they would extend their family eventually. Maybe they would have a big family of lots of kid. And that really started right here – with Steve finally confessing that he did, in fact, love Bucky Barnes. It was a good thing Bucky really loved Steve too.


End file.
